SGA President David Mckillop and Vice President Mack Douglas are on their way to commencement, and the student body has elected a new team for the upcoming 2015-2016 school year.

President-Elect Nolan Varee ’16 and Vice President-Elect Brian Salvie ’16 have already been working to take over, readying for a successful year in office.

President-Elect Nolan Varee is from Conneautville, Pennsylvania. A Politics major with an Economics minor.

Varee ran unopposed with Salvie, a Biology major with minors in Chemistry and Philosophy hailing from Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Both Varee and Salvie decided to run for office after seeing places where Saint Anselm could expand.

Varee mentioned things like making the campus more visitor-friendly and navigable, as well as some of the bigger things that could help the college run more smoothly.

A big focus for the duo is communication between students and the administration and faculty, as well as easier communication between the student body and SGA.

Varee notes that he wants to help start some conversations.

“Having a greater amount of communication between those who work in Alumni Hall and those who live in our residence halls or commute to campus every day is an important aspect that can improve the ways in which we live and work together,” Varee Shared. “I want to be a part of that process and to help make it easier for these issues to be brought about as a community.”

Salvie also brought up a desire to help improve student-administration communication.

“There just needs to be a more genuine communication between the student body, their representatives (us), and the administration. This is a team effort, and I want to help in the best way possible.”

He also made a point of saying that he will be focused on ensuring that the student body is top priority for the administration.

As the leaders of student government, seeing the necessity for continued and improved dialogue between students and administration is an important part of Varee’s and Salvie’s new jobs, but they both move beyond that to other goals as well.

When asked what specific plan was at the forefront, Varee noted a want to increase student participation throughout campus.

He will be trying to increase student attendance at events, focusing on “events that are put on by students and and with the help of student input.”

Things such as athletic events, concerts (besides the well-attended spring concert), and other student-centric events will be given special attention, as will student feedback on what events they would like to see on campus.

Along with the student involvement on campus, Varee and Salvie were asked to comment on the recent trend of the SGA President and Vice President running unopposed.

Salvie credited this to the notion that the people running are simply the next-in-line, as well as the negative outlook many students have towards SGA.

He would like to fix this by showing that the association is “elitists, but is full of regular students who care and want to make a difference”.

Varee also mentioned the student perspective towards SGA as a problem when it comes to having single-candidate elections.

He stated that it is more than just a resume builder, but is an opportunity for students to change their environment and shape their college experience.

Overall, the attitude of this administration is that SGA is a vital tool to increasing the Anselmian community’s happiness and success.

Obviously wanting to be a part of that process, the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect cite this as what will be driving their decisions forward while in office.

Varee stated, “Everyone has their own reasons for choosing Saint A’s, but there are also expectations that we all have and students should have a larger voice when it comes to how they want to spend their time while on campus.”

He added that “We go to an incredible school with an immense amount of opportunities for our students that many schools around the country simply do not have. I hope to help increase these opportunities in terms of academics, athletics, and general student life. I want to hear that students are excited for upcoming campus events and activities.”

Mirroring the same sentiment, Salvie noted that the overall happiness of the student body will be largely the concern for the next year in SGA.

“Our team will work tirelessly to continue, and improve existing traditions that we all love, while simultaneously creating new traditions,” Salvie shared.

He added that “We want to show the student body that their Student Government Association exists to serve them. We are here for the students, the administration should put students first, and the driving force behind our decisions will be to show just that.”